Report: A Quarter Of Global Homes Have Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi, it's everywhere. Not exactly "everywhere," but probably in more places than you'd imagine. According to new research from Strategy Analytics, around 439 million homes around the globe have a Wi-Fi base station installed, which is right around 25 percent of all homes in the world. Not surprisingly, South Korea has the highest Wi-Fi household penetration; that country also has the most amount of broadband users. The UK, France and Germany are also way up there; in those nations, over 70% of households have a Wi-Fi network. In America, around 61% of homes have a Wi-Fi network.

Looking forward a bit, the entity suggests that by 2016, the total worldwide number of Wi-Fi households will swell to around 800 million homes, reaching a penetration rate of around 42%. The report notes that most of that growth will come from China, who will add another 110 million Wi-Fi homes by 2016.

Will we hit 50% penetration by the time the next decade rolls around? It's looking likely; too bad many of these will use Wi-Fi passwords, blocking us out of needed access when we travel. Perhaps the FON idea will catch back on...